In the mountain ravine, apart from the howling of the medicine people, there was no other response.
Chu Qianli bit her lip, her long sword in hand, drawing even colder sword energy.
But the sword energy, visible to the naked eye, was already weakening.
"Feng Yexuan!"
She called out loudly again.
Still, no response.
A sharp pain suddenly struck the place where her heart was.
It felt as if she had been bitten by a medicine person.
She was even finding it difficult to breathe.
Had she been poisoned by the medicine people? Otherwise, why would she feel like this?
"Feng Yexuan..."
The girl's lonely call echoed in the ravine.
Still no response!
He... was no longer here.
"Bastards, I'll kill you all!"
Chu Qianli gritted her teeth, the intense pain in her heart seeming to transform into the sharp killing intent on her sword.
Her eyes reddened, and she raised her hand.
The crimson in her eyes seemed to blaze with fire. With one sword strike, three medicine people instantly fell.
Chu Qianli's long sword gathered more and more power.
The sword energy was unstoppable!
Her body felt hot, and she could barely see anything before her.
All she knew was that Feng Yexuan had been bitten to death by these medicine people!
He was truly dead!
She couldn't tell if she was angry or heartbroken, perhaps she couldn't remember anything at all.
The long sword in her hand seemed to be devouring her inner strength, concentrating all of it.
The sword energy was already beyond her control.
"Kill!"
Chu Qianli leaped up, her sword energy slashing through, instantly cutting down several more medicine people.
She seemed to have lost control, no, the long sword in her hand had lost control.
It was still devouring her inner strength.
When she realized this, Chu Qianli's fingers trembled, and the third sword strike, completely beyond her control, was about to be unleashed.
"You're insane! If your true energy is exhausted, you'll die!"
Suddenly, someone grabbed her wrist, and that sword strike was forcibly pulled back by her.
Chu Qianli felt the long sword in her hand still trembling, she clearly couldn't hold onto it.
Her fingers loosened, and the long sword was snatched away.
With a sword thrust, the medicine people behind her were repelled by the sword energy, unable to rise again.
"I'm back! Li'er, wake up! Let's go!"
Feng Yexuan embraced her waist, leaped up, and retreated rapidly!
He was back...
This voice, this presence, this familiar sense of existence...
He was truly back.
The crimson in Chu Qianli's eyes gradually returned to calm.
When she came to her senses, she found herself walking with Feng Yexuan on a cliff edge.
He was truly by her side!
"You're not dead..."
"If we don't leave now, we really will die. Are you awake?"
Feng Yexuan pushed her.
Chu Qianli immediately flipped in mid-air, landing steadily on the rocks above.
"Yexuan..."
"I'll cover the rear. How did you get down? Think of a way to return to the cliff top!"
The main force was at the cliff top; as long as she returned, she would be safe.
Feng Yexuan swung his long sword, carrying a powerful sword energy, immediately cutting down several people.
But Chu Qianli could clearly see that with every use of sword energy, a trace of blood would slip from the corner of his mouth.
Having fought for so long, his true energy was almost depleted.
Large numbers of medicine people, seemingly endless, could not be cut down.
Staying here meant only death!
How she had gotten down...
Chu Qianli's reason finally returned completely.
She immediately took out the hot air balloon from her bracelet and said in a deep voice, "Yexuan, hold on a little longer. I'll be ready soon."
"Good!" Feng Yexuan saw hope.
As long as she said she could do it, there was hope!
The long sword in his hand pulsed with even greater sword energy.
Even if it meant exhausting all his true energy, he had to block all the medicine people climbing up for her!
Chu Qianli dared not look at his face; it was already devoid of any color.
Having bled so much, if this continued, even if he didn't die of exhaustion, he would die from blood loss.
Fortunately, the space was large enough. When the hot air balloon was packed away, the hydrogen inside was still there, though not quite enough.
Chu Qianli injected the hydrogen at the fastest speed, and soon, the hot air balloon floated in the air.
She pulled hard on the rope while continuing to inject hydrogen.
When she could no longer hold on even with all her might, Chu Qianli shouted, "Yexuan, come up!"
"Good!" Feng Yexuan swung his long sword, leaped up, and landed steadily on the rattan basket.
Chu Qianli also grabbed the rope and leaped up.
However, Feng Yexuan's weight was more than she had anticipated.
After both of them were on board, the hot air balloon immediately began to descend.
Although the speed was not very fast, it was clearly going down.
"Why is this happening?" Feng Yexuan frowned and struck the bottom with his palm.
Using the force of the rebound, the hot air balloon managed to ascend a little.
But it was still descending.
"Not enough hydrogen, I'll buy another bottle to try!"
Chu Qianli had no time to explain. As Feng Yexuan struck his second palm, and the balloon managed to rise a bit more, the hydrogen bottle was bought.
After descending slowly for less than two meters, the hot air balloon finally floated in mid-air.
Then, it slowly ascended.
Chu Qianli let out a sigh of relief and slumped down, only to realize she was sitting on Feng Yexuan's lap.
It had been a breathtaking experience, almost costing them their lives.
"Watch out for arrows." She still didn't dare to let her guard down.
However, now that the balloon had flown up, even if people below shot arrows, they wouldn't be able to hit them.
Feng Yexuan held his long sword, constantly watching the area below for any sneak attacks.
Only when even he believed that the height made it impossible to be ambushed did he relax his grip, and the long sword fell from the air.
His woman was diligently controlling this contraption, carefully, inching her way upwards.
He didn't understand it, nor did he know its principle.
The moment the long sword fell, his vision had begun to blur.
However, his strong willpower kept him lucid.
"Li'er..."
"What?"
"Are we safe?" he asked.
Chu Qianli didn't know what he was thinking, but she replied truthfully, "Leng Ji and Fu Long are bringing a large contingent of people to the top. As long as we rendezvous with them, we will be out of danger."
"This thing..." Feng Yexuan's voice had become so hoarse it was barely audible.
"Are you sure... it can take us up?"
"Yes!" Absolutely.
Feng Yexuan finally felt at ease and closed his eyes: "This King trusts you... Remember, the man in black at the bottom of the cliff, his name is Qiu Qinghai. He is... the elder brother of the late Princess of King He."
"Okay, I'll remember." She didn't know why he was telling her this now.
However, if he asked her to remember, Chu Qianli would certainly remember it firmly.
This information was very important!
Afterward, Chu Qianli felt a weight on her shoulder. Feng Yexuan rested his head on her shoulder.
It was getting heavier.
Heavier and heavier.
Was this guy treating her like a chair?
But she was fully focused on controlling the hot air balloon, with no time to bicker with him. Given that he had truly returned alive, she would... let him be.
It was good that he was alive.
After an unknown amount of time, Chu Qianli's eyes lit up, and she said urgently, "We've reached the cliff top!"
However, the person behind her showed no reaction.